


ROUND TWO

by generalfrings



Category: AOA | Ace of Angels
Genre: Gen, and I do mean the full ensemble, even if it might not seem it at first glance :eyescenter:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalfrings/pseuds/generalfrings
Summary: the world comes to beas inspired by the BINGLE BANGLE M/V.





	ROUND TWO

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [AOA Discord](https://discord.gg/sMApejw) BINGLE BANGLE giveaway contest. Thanks for providing the incentive I needed to sit down and write the idea I'd been thinking of since the MV first came out.
> 
> Dorky game stuff ahead, and LOTS of references to the MV. I'm willing to elaborate on absolutely anything noted because I love overthinking things I enjoy.

Light flickers on, and the world comes to be.

 

**_ _ _**

 

Saying that SEOLHYUN is filled with a sense of purpose would be disingenuous. Claiming she knows she is chosen too would be misleading. Rather, it comes naturally. It is in her sense of being, as she skids to a stop before the CAFETERIA entrance, that she is going to START.

 

The day cycle is going well. The ROLLER KING has her gliding across the cafeteria with a speed boost of a quarter total - she knows it's a quarter of a unit extra because she's calculated it from the time it takes her to make the straight line from the CAFETERIA entrance to the ITEM SELECTOR. Others didn't bother, letting the math do its own work, but SEOLHYUN likes knowing.

 

It's knowing that allows her to make the frame perfect turns necessary to optimize her roll into the opposite direction, giving her enough time to secure the POINTS needed to BUY the APPLE JUICE needed for the manipulation to be successful.

 

The SERVER's smile from behind the counter seems to glow ever greener as the POINTS get deducted and the APPLE JUICE is rendered before her. She knows that in reality the smile glowing in her direction is the exact same color code as always, but SEOLHYUN lets it add onto her accomplishment. She doesn't let the things she knows about this world take away from what she still has in it.

 

**_ _ _**

 

In reality, it's not Mina's game.

 

She used to have her own copy, but her mother took it away once she decided Mina was straying from her studies too much for the sake of a world that wasn't even real, which was totally unfair, even if she was dangerously close to tanking trigonometry.

 

This copy was lent to her a long time ago, and she never got the chance to return it. She cherishes it as much as she can, which means the disk resides more often than not inside her GameCube (which only survived her mother's wrath under the consideration of how much money it had cost).

 

**_ _ _**

 

It takes some grinding to replenish their POINTS. The WINGS especially are costly, and the progress is gradual. They rolled too few members last time - only YUNA and CHANMI, and YUNA's points were capped from the RNG. SEOLHYUN is present in the memory, but not yet--

 

There. LET'S DANCE.

 

The world has been running for many cycles now, and they run semi successfuly through the latest attempt to raise their POINTS. MINA gets the highest score potential threshold, helped by carrying the WAND, but they can feel a delay keeping them from hitting their marks perfectly enough to make the bonus matter.

 

It's an odd, frustrating thing. It's like skating through the BEACH before they were never able to again without going out of bounds. It's a struggle, sometimes even a slog; knowing the next move is to come, but not receiving the confirmation until too many frames have passed them by. SEOLHYUN knows it's because of how long the SESSION has been going for, but there is nothing she or any of them can do about it.

 

**_ _ _**

 

She was lent the game by a friend back in school.

 

Well. Kind of.

 

They were friends on the account of being in the same grade and the same age, but the only thing they really had in common was the game. And truthfully, Mina might still say she borrowed the game, but she might as well say she either stole it or was gifted it since it's still in her possession after all this time.

 

But originally, at least, her... _friend_ had lent it to Mina because she took pity on her after one too many times Mina asked her to tell her "the latest" on a game she'd beaten too many times to count.

 

Thing is, too, her friend was so much better than her at the game that after all this time Mina still has her highscores to beat saved on the memory card they'd swap back and forth as friendly competition. It's something to strive to every time she grabs the controller and selects her favorite game starter.

**_ _ _**

 

 

The manipulation is complete as the APPLE JUICE gets delivered by CHANMI. Originally this was not CHANMI's to deliver, which is why SEOLHYUN had to spawn it early on lest they get stuck in a hopeless loop for a QUEST they can't complete.

 

SEOLHYUN waits, taking in the same asset she's stared at countless times...

 

... DON'T EYE CONTACT YOU CAN FALL IN LOVE. DON'T EYE CONTACT YOU CAN FALL IN LOVE. DON'T EYE CONTACT YOU CAN FALL IN LOVE.  DON'T EYE CONTACT...

 

She knows as soon as the QUEST is completed. CHANMI is looping the old victory animation the way she's prone to sometimes, and the QUEST is completed. They all know, then, that they have enough POINTS for the last ITEM purchase.

 

HYEJEONG's character model is the best for the WINGS at this stage, and with that they have everything they need.

 

**_ _ _**

 

Mina's friend moved away back then. She thinks so, at least. It's what the teachers told them at school, and Mina had no reason to believe otherwise. Even if she always thought it weird that that wasn't a thing that came up in conversation before - like " _hey, I figured out a way to skip to the bonus level straight from the beach, oh and by the way, my parents are moving_ ".

 

As it was, Mina never even got her house’s phone number or address to try to reach out to her again, least of all return the game.

 

It tended to remind Mina of a senior she used to have. It was rare to have a senior like that one; kind and calm, and always taking care of Mina and the others. It made Mina feel nice and special, like she could be more than what she thought she was - something more than just a boring girl in a boring world, or at least enough to have the attention of someone like her senior who would listen to her talk about her favorite game and entertain the notion of them playing together sometime.

 

Until the day her senior had up and left, and Mina was back to stage zero.

 

So Mina forced herself to forget - which she could, pretty successfully even, until it happened again.

 

She prefers sticking to what she knows now.

 

**_ _ _**

 

 

A perfect streak is all they need now.

 

The ITEMS were all gotten in the order required, and that way they should even help cover for a fraction of mistakes out of their control.

 

As the sky animation shifts above them in indication of the stage they're in, they let themselves be led. Mostly.

 

Sometimes they want things to work in a certain way, too. And sometimes they want it enough to try and change what they can, even if it is just a fraction of an animation skip.

 

SEOLHYUN knows as soon as the last scores flip and blink away that they did it. She hardly has time after that - there is no PAUSE, which isn't ideal but will have to do, and they're thrust into the BONUS STAGE as the sky flips into the night cycle.

 

**_ _ _**

 

It's already night time, and Mina hasn't stopped long enough to notice. She takes a quick moment to wipe her sweaty palms on her overalls before adjusting her glasses and watching as the confirmation she wanted flips across the screen.

 

Perfect score.

 

She cheers loud enough to make some dog nearby start barking, but she has no time to feel anything as she sits even closer to the screen. She'd heard about being able to force the sequence break countless times - it's what her friend used to tell her excitedly about during class breaks. How she'd tried over and over, how many items she'd tried out, and what kind of score you even need to have to make it possible.

 

Last Mina had heard of it from her, her friend had been awfully close. She remembers how giddy she was, telling Mina about figuring out the key about force spawning the WINGS during the BONUS STAGE, and that it would get her where she needed.

 

Mina had never understood her obsession with it, but she wants to know. She thinks she's close to knowing it, to seeing it for herself, and she doesn't have time for another sip of APPLE JUICE before she gets herself ready for the press cycle she thinks she remembers.

 

**_ _ _**

 

They WARP.

 

**_ _ _**

 

**_ _ _**

 

**_ _ _**

 

The sky is still stuck on its night cycle, but SEOLHYUN skids to a stop before the CAFETERIA as usual. She is filled with a sense of purpose, and she knows she is chosen.

 

The words DON'T EYE CONTACT are visible for a couple frames through the CAFETERIA door as she turns, glances across the PARKING LOT at the BEACH she hasn't been able to step into in so long, and then she is looking up - going against the very words from the asset she'd stared at countless times.

 

She thinks it’s only right, now that YY.’s highscore was beaten.

 

**_ _ _**

 

The WINGS are consumed, and her POINTS are back to zero.

 

It's a glitch, through and through, and the world comes to be.

 

**_ _ _**

 

She doesn't feel purpose, exactly, and neither does she feel chosen. She can't choose herself, after all.

 

MINA walks to a stop before the CAFETERIA entrance, and she figures she might as well START.

**_ _ _**

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did replay the M/V countless times and make an absurd amount of notes.
> 
> Unfortunately I didn't have enough free time to fully flesh out the ideas I had (nor use all the MV details I wanted), but I intend to flesh out this universe further. There are a few hints dropped in about some other characters in the plot, and some other odd references to the concept of speedrunning.
> 
> (And yes, the [DON'T EYE CONTACT poster](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/418555605817622538/457378205859446794/unknown.png) I reference does have weird English originally, and I didn't want to change it.)


End file.
